Landing | Average number of days during the past 30 days when an adult's physical health or mental health was not good by Total | State Health Access Data Assistance Center

Average number of days during the past 30 days when an adult's physical health or mental health was not good

Measure Overview

A variety of factors and circumstances can adversely affect an individual’s mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing on a day-to-day basis, such as lack of sleep, a stressful work environment, or poor diet.

The number of days that an individual does not have good health—or “unhealthy days”—on a regular basis is one way to measure quality of life and can serve as a starting point for examining underlying health-related issues. Tracking unhealthy days across states and demographic groups is an essential component in identifying health disparities and formulating strategies to address these disparities and achieve equity.

Adult Unhealthy Days by State: Breakdowns and Data Source

State Health Compare provides annual, state-level rates of adult unhealthy days (defined as the average number of days during the past 30 days when an adult's physical health or mental health was not good). Estimates are based on findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey.

This measure is available by type of unhealthy day (e.g., mentally unhealthy days, physically unhealthy days, or both types) along with seven breakdowns: Age, Coverage Type, Disability Status, Education, Household Income Categories, Race/Ethnicity, and Sexual Orientation.

Generate customized graphics using this data by selecting one of the options below.

Notes

All Unhealthy Days is a composite measure of Physically Unhealthy Days and Mentally Unhealthy Days. For each adult, the number of Physical Unhealthy Days reported in the last 30 days is added to the number of Mentally Unhealthy Days reported in the last 30 days. These numbers are then averaged across all individuals in each state. However, the composite measure is censored at 30 days. For example, if an adult reported 17 Mentally Unhealthy Days and 20 Physically Unhealthy days, this individual would be assigned the maximum of 30 All Unhealthy Days. Consequently, the sum of the average number of Mentally Unhealthy Days and the average number of Physically Unhealthy Days will always be lower than the average of All Unhealthy Days. Please see the CDC document Measuring Healthy Days for more detail on methodology, and validation and the 2017 BRFSS questionnaire for exact question wording. National estimates represent the total population rate of adults who reported this measure. The margin of error (MOE) represents the uncertainty of an estimate due to sampling variability; the calculated MOE is 95%. N/A indicates that data were not available or suppressed because the number of sample cases was too small. New Jersey data are not available in 2019 because the state was unable to collect sufficient data, and 2019 national data do not include New Jersey. Florida data are not available in 2021 because the state was unable to collect sufficient data, and 2021 national data do not include Florida. Kentucky and Pennsylvania data are not available in 2023 because these states were unable to collect sufficient data, and 2023 national data do not include Kentucky or Pennsylvania.

Generate customized graphics using this data by selecting one of the options below.

Related Products

Measuring State-level Disparities in Unhealthy Days

Exploring Disparities Using State Health Compare